Great job, everyone. Some of the highlights: ======================= Dan and Chris as Jean and Martin - great start to the show Leslie as the executioner - the crowd loved it 1st sentence/last - throwing the tv out the window Good "say again" - the characters worked well together (surfer dude and trucker man)- some great creative say agains word ass - the heir to the throne party quirks - excellent physical stuff (Dan on the floor, Mike on top)- I like good physical scenes and the crowd loved that part Mike, you were in your element in day in the life - excellent - good wake up scene, excellent physical moves, the shower, etc. One of my friends loved our bus scene best of all the scenes of the evening. (Obviously there were some blocking problems, though) Need for improvement ==================== styles was a bit weak, but the audience seem to like it though word ass felt a bit off - are we getting tired of it? we used to have more energy movie review - in the practice it seemed to work better when the reviewers set up the scene a bit more. It felt like Chris and I had a hard time advancing the scenes. day in the life - Mike were you intentionally ignoring me the first time I came to ask for money while you were on the phone with Martin? - I wasn't sure if I should persist or leave when you didn't answer me - my idea was to get you to have a discussion with me while you were charging Martin by the minute. overall - still need to listen to each other better, watch the focus - there were some times when people were talking over each other - we need to do some exercises to improve in that area ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Overall ======= - This was a good night!!! I thought a lot of elements worked - I just reviewed the comments from the last show and we improved on almost every point! How often does that happen?? - I really like the setting @ club SAW very much. Heck - could we even do some or our workshops from there? - We can put on a good show!! (this affirmation is probably more for me than anyone else!!) - What a difference playing to a full, receptive crowd!! - Last show I said that some of our scene went on too long, I think we did much better in this area. - More local content and current events were heard through the night! The audience reacted well to them too... Need to continue to do this... - Good lighting makes a big difference!! - As people leave after the show - perhaps make the point of thanking them for coming - ask them whether they enjoyed the show etc... Even ask them what was their favorite games if time allows (i.e. ask for feedback). - One thing came to mind as I was driving home after the show... As we get more experienced at performance improv, let's not be afraid to take some risks on stage. The payoff can be huge... Pre-Show ======== - I was very pleased the way we made last minute changes to the setlist and no one freaked out. This tells me we have achieved a certain level of confidence in ourselves. - Need to count money in cashbox before show!! - Again, no money person showed. We ended up taking shifts at the entrance (which worked well?). Maybe, we should be doing this from now on...? - Music worked well - I guess. Prelude (All) ====== - I think this went well. - I would like to come up with other creative ways to start the show. Any ideas? Are there some improv games or scene that we could use/alter for an opening? Monarch? Man on the Street? Scripts (mc- Martin. actors- Chris, DanS, Mike) ===== - I took a risk as MC and just asked for a current event, hoping to work with it. - We did do Jean/Paul in an earlier show but that is the hot topic of the day - I love the way Elliot came through and DanS - you played it beautifully! - This game is most definitely an audience fav. and a great way to start the night Scene Replay (mc-DanS, actors- Julia, Mike, Leslie) ========== - We did this differently as we had the styles on a flipchart and DanS asked the audience to choose... I think I like this method much better. - This went ok I thought. The Gangster style could have been stronger (actually, I thought it was a western at one point). - The children's style was stronger I think. - We need to continue practicing existing styles and add more to the list over time. Security Guard (mc-Chris, actors- DanS, Leslie. Mike, Alan) =========== - This was a successful game - good reaction from audience - Leslie's executioner character was priceless - I love the hood!!! - Huge reaction from audience - DanS is in his form in this scene 1st/Last Sentence (mc- Mike & Leslie, actors- Chris, DanS, Alan) ============= - Not sure how this went & still not sure if I like this game. - I still don't think we know how to play this for it's maximum potential. It almost seems like we need to add another element to the mix. Word Ass (mc- Martin, actors- All) ======== - I'm convinced that it's time to evolve this to the next step .... Puppets (mc- Leslie, actors- Alan, Julia) ====== - This looks like a lock as an audience fav. - Great job by Julia and Alan Say Again- (mc- Leslie, actors- Martin, Chris, Alan) ========== - Went better than last time. More creative 'say agains'. - Brought in local areas like Stittsville, Guelph - Didn't move around stage too much (talking heads). Party Quirks (mc- Alan, actors- Martin, DanS, Mike, Leslie) ========= - I think this the funniest game of the night. - Fantastic opportunity to showcase our physical talent - Terrific work by all three party guests. - Good audience reaction. - Definitely much funnier scene than professions - eh? Movie Review (mc- Martin, actors- Mike, DanS, Chris, Julia) =========== - This is the first Movie Review that I really liked. - Wonderful snobs by Chris & Julia!!! - Still not sure if we know how to interplay between the critics and actors Day in the Life (mc- Chris, actors- all) =========== - Much, much, much better than last time. - We still need to work on it from an information gathering sense. By this I mean - The MC of this game needs to be quick with getting to the plot points without getting into a long dialogue with the audience member. If we get seven or eight fuzzy plot points, which ones do we do? How do we, in a 20 second huddle determine which one's we are doing (not to mention who plays who, etc...)? Chris did a better job at this but I think it needs to be even tighter. - While Chris was talking to the audience member, the rest of us were unsure whether we should be huddling or just listening. At one point, someone started to talk and I missed part of the audience input. - We need to review our basic stage skills (or in my case - learn them!) Final Bows/Closing remarks (Julia) ===================== - I like that we applauded the audience - Good closing by Julia. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > > I'm going to critique while things are still relatively fresh in my mind. > I > > will refrain from giving thumbs up on skits that I was in as I find it > > difficult to be objective. However I will point out any weaknesses. > > > > Scripts > > What can I say. Great opening script with Jean and Paul. Crowd was > laughing > > big time, set the whole tone for the evening. > > > > Unlike Mike, I'll not refrain from critiquing > scenes I was in ... since usually I'm my own harshest > critic .... > > Scripts : Thought it went okay ... Dan was good a Chretien, > and the lines I got were absolute no-brainers ... I thought > we got away from the idea of Chretien begging Paul > Martin to come back, a bit ... but overall it was pretty funny. > Dan got some good lines in ... tying the 'Eliot' references > to Pierre Trudeau was really good. > > > Scene Replays > > A little shaky on the gangster style. This is a reflection of the fact > that > > we have never done it. > > > > You more than made up for it with the children's show though ... > My question, is why does Mike always play an incontinent child? > > Very funny, overall. > > > Security Guard > > I think the crowd enjoyed it. Nice clues from both Alan and Leslie and > > excellent pick up by Dan. A number of persons were talking about how well > > Dan assimilated the clues. > > > > I thought this one was one of the better ones during the > evening ... amazing how much we've agonized over using it, > in the past. > > It seemed quite natural ... Leslie's executioner (with the hood!) got a big > laugh .. as did her 'laughing you head off' and 'Green Mile' references. > > Dan always cracks me up with his 'Sir, don't touch me!' bit ... > > I thought we had some good suggestions from the audience for this one, > too ... Overall, one of the better bits of the evening. > > > 1st Sentence/ > > Last Sentence > > This one went pretty well although I apologize for not having weeded out > > that sentence. I went through them all at one point but it must have been > > added later or I missed it. One small critique is that the scene became a > > little stagnant at one point when everyone was sitting. I think it would > > have been possible to have the same dialogue with bit more movement. > > However I have a personal thing about sitting down in skits so I may be > > overly critical, the audience didn't seem to mind. Good physicality after > > that, especially with the dumping of the TV. Weak intro on my part, I > > promise to put some thought into my intro next time. > > > > It was a bit static ... I felt it was starting to drag a bit ... What was > fun was that for a while I really didn't know how were were going to > get to the end. Good pimp by Dan, too! > > 'Hey Alan, remember that story? Tell it again, will ya?' > > > Word Ass > > I have no complaints here, I hear it has been much better in the past but > I > > wasn't there so I can't comment. I consider it par for the course. > > It was okay ... I think we've kind of got over the initial frenetic > buzz we had with it ... initially, this was a scary game, and we really > got pumped for it. We don't seem to be as intimidated now. Maybe > we need slightly more daring words, or something ... > > > > > Puppets > > Well done, Always a crowd pleaser. > > > Very good ... nice advancing, and characterization. > > > > Say Again... > > Went pretty well, crowd seemed to enjoy it and audience participation > worked > > well. This game is showing steady improvement. Could have been played > more > > centre stage and forward I think. Some very clever 'say agains' from al l > > parties. > > It was fun ... seemed a bit slow at times ... Towards the end, I was trying > to find a way to end things ...we still have a bit of a problem with not > advancing the scene based on the 'Say Again' suggestions ... > > > > > Party Quirk > > Hmmm, I think it went okay? Audience seemed to be laughing. I admit this > > game is stupid and requires very few real acting skills but I think it can > > be very amusing if things work out. Julia and I can argue about it off > > line. > > > > My sister thought 'the very itchy guy' was hysterical ... ;) > > I thought it was one of our better moments ... total pimp-o-rama, but > still very funny. > > > Movie Review > > I'm not at all sure how this went. Please feel to free to heavily > critique > > my performance in this as I was pretty much flying by the seat of the > pants. > > Movie scenes were well done. Was there enough guidance to the actors from > > the reviewers? > > It wasn't bad ... I was kind of hoping to play up the snobby characters > wading through distasteful settings a bit more ... but it did seemt to get a > decent > reaction. > > > > > Day in the Life > > > > Once again I was way too involved in the skit to judge overall impact. > > Couple of points I did notice however, participation by other players was > > extremely well balanced. I didn't feel the stage was crowded or that the > > focus was being pulled off in the wrong direction. No one was in the > scene > > just for the sake of being there. Mistake on my part to not stake out the > > front of the stage while waiting for the bus, it led to some serious > > blocking problems. > > > > I thought this was an excellent way to end things ... The day > we got was an absolute gift ... I couldn't have written something > better than what we were given. We hit all the important points, > the scene felt pretty balanced, and moved along, and for once, there > seemed to be no ambiguity as to when one event ended and the next > began ... the transitions were extremely smooth. > > > > > All in all I came out of this show feeling very pleased. I believe if you > > go through my previous messages you won't find me nearly as positive on > past > > shows. Everyone, and I mean, everyone did an excellent job. I truly felt > > we were working as a team. This was a show to be proud of. I not sure > how > > much of the overall success can be attributed to the venue but it > certainly > > had a large impact. The setting was very intimate, a bit edgy and the > large > > audience led to infectious laughter. I say we never go back to McNabb, as > > Martin said we have found a new home. Some of the intros were extremely > > well done, they shamed me big time. We may want to give consideration to > > using the lighting more effectively at a future date. > > Is it possible to get a lighting guy during the show? Like to do > blackouts/fade-ins/fade-outs/etc? That would be way cool. > > And at some time we *have* to use the disco ball, too ... ;) ------------------ The senior's show last went very well, perhaps not as good as the SAW gallary show - but good nonetheless. The audience was very appreciative to what we were doing and that helped a lot. There were about 30-35 folks in a fair size room (no stage or risers). We did the same basic show as SAW and Mcnabb. Hilights (or lowlights depending on your perspective, I suppose) ================================================================ Mike did his old man with a walker routine Julia played the main character in probably our best version of A Day In a Life I took a dump in a bathroom scene!! DanG did great dispite still being on Euro time!! Chris played a self-centred Tom Cruise in Movie Review Mike played Michael Jackson in Party Quirks The Mundane Olympic event was waxing a car (with DanS vs. Mike doing a splendid job) DanS did his normal good take as security guard